I for Isobel Essay Questions

What, if anything, explains how intensely Isobel's mother dislikes Isobel?

There are a few possible reasons for the clear animosity that Isobel's mother, May, directs at her younger daughter. Isobel is a lively, imaginative, and intelligent child who, rather than being alienated by these qualities, is praised and accepted for them. The same qualities may arouse May's envy, inappropriately childish though such envy may be. It is also possible that May uses her mistreatment of Isobel as an outlet for her other frustrations, such as her tense and eventually violent relationship with Isobel's father. Although these are a few plausible options based on the evidence of the text, it is equally plausible that the cause of May's hatred for her daughter is meant to remain mysterious or indeterminate: I for Isobel only covers a few episodes from Isobel's childhood and does so in a fragmentary fashion. This somewhat minimalistic approach to the narrative may be designed to keep key questions unresolved, and to keep the reader guessing about the true causes of May's anger and contempt.

Is the role of religion in I for Isobel mostly positive or mostly negative?

Religion in I for Isobel has a few strongly negative aspects. Perhaps the most evident of these is that religion does not prevent immoral or inhumane behavior: Isobel's hate-filled mother, after all, goes to mass just like her daughters. Nor does religion (in contrast to literature) provide a framework that allows a gifted or original girl such as Isobel to flourish. However, there are more positive ways of understanding religion in I for Isobel. The vicious adults from Isobel's childhood (namely Isobel's mother and Mrs Harman) appear to be horrible anomalies, not indications that religious hypocrisy runs rampant. Moreover, religion and life in a religious school give Isobel a framework for devotion and analysis; the skills that she gleans from being part of a religious community are the same skills of perception and inspiration that help her, later, to connect with literature.

How might I for Isobel be different had Isobel's parents not died?

If Isobel's parents May and Rob had lived, the themes and structure of I for Isobel would have been significantly different in several ways. As it is, May only appears in the book's first three sections; keeping her alive might have made her conflict with Isobel completely central to the novel (rather than making it one of Witting's haunting, lingering undertones). Isobel's father is a very different character, a man who interacts little with his daughters even when present, and keeping him alive might have resulted in a fuller portrait. However, without the deaths of her parents forcing her out into the world, Isobel might never have discovered her work, her literary friends, or the bounds of independence: the demises of Rob and May open the book to a variety of themes that would have been precluded if these characters had lasted longer.

Does Isobel seem to have a strong bond to any other character in the novel?

It is easy to argue that I for Isobel is about a young woman who, though not entirely unusual or antisocial, cannot form enduring relationships with the people around her. Isobel's sister Margaret disappears from the narrative after the deaths of Isobel's parents; even the literary group that accepts Isobel in "Glassware and Other Breakable Items" is nowhere to be found in the section that follows. Yet there are (to take the argument in a different direction) characters with whom Isobel shares moments of camaraderie and sympathy. One is Frank, who communicates easily with Isobel and, as a political nonconformist, must keep his views to himself. He may empathize with Isobel's independent yet quiet character. Another is Mrs Adams, whose bond with Isobel is important not because it consumes a large portion of the narrative but because it is based on genuine pride and kindness.

Is the encounter with Mrs Adams the best possible point of culmination for Isobel's story, or would another ending be preferable?

Isobel's scene with Mrs Adams brings Isobel's literary interests to a new point of evolution: she is no longer a passive reader, but has now become an active and engaged writer. This episode also grants the beleaguered Isobel a rare moment of validation, serving as a "payoff" for readers who have followed and most likely sympathized with Isobel during her childhood and young adulthood misadventures. Other endings, however, are possible. Readers who seek more finality might want to know how successful Isobel's writing will be, whether she leaves the import office, or whether she can find satisfaction in relationships outside her books and her own prose. Witting could have answered some of these questions (or could have ended the narrative earlier, with the definitive and somewhat uplifting final scene of "Glassware and Other Breakable Items"), yet might have shifted emphasis away from the theme of Isobel's self-discovery in the process.